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Jim Slater – Obituary

Well known stock market investor and "asset stripper" Jim Slater has died aged 86. He first made a big name for himself as co-founder of Slater-Walker Securities in the 1960s - an investment company that specialised in rapid deal making. By acquiring companies, reorganising them and then disposing of them the company grew rapidly but built a reputation for "asset stripping" (a derogatory term for taking out the good parts of a business and dismantling the rest leaving workers out of ...

The HBOS Report – It’s Finally Here

The Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Bank of England today published the report of the inquiry into the failure of HBOS Plc. Those who were investors in the company at the time, or who suffered as a consequence of the bail-out of the company via a merger with LloydsTSB, will not need to be told what happened and why. This report does not add a lot to the story as the defects in the management of the HBOS are now well ...

Stockbroker Transfers – Why So Long?

  Why, oh why, do transfers between stockbrokers take so long? Having just suffered the second delay of three months or more to simply switch from using one stockbroker (or "investment platform" as some now prefer to call themselves) to another, I am now writing to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to demand some action on behalf of investors. Other ShareSoc Members have reported similar delays on a regular basis and I am building up a portfolio of cases to support our submission ...

Better Finance Press Release on Shareholder Rights Directive

The following press release has just been issued by Better Finance - an organisation that represents private investor associations: PRESS RELEASE A CAPITAL MARKETS UNION WITHOUT A SINGLE MARKET FOR EU-WIDE SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Brussels, 9 November 2015 – The Commission’s proposal for the review of the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD), aimed at countering wide-spread short-termism in favour of a long-term perspective in the governance of listed companies by stimulating stronger shareholder engagement, was presented to the European Parliament (EP) and Council. Whereas the EP ...

Tweeting False Information is a Crime

Yes tweeting false information is a crime, at least in the USA. Scottish trader James Craig has been charged by US prosecutors with fraud after he set up two twitter accounts and distributed false information on US firms Audience and Sarepta. This caused the share prices of those companies to fall by 28% and 16% and caused investors to lose over £1 million. Mr Craig has now disappeared. Mr Craig used Twitter account names that were similar to those of Muddy Waters ...